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What is Simply...Challenging?

In brief, Simply...Challenging is my challenge blog. Here, I'm only listing the reading (and 1 writing) challenges I am/have taken part in, as well as book lists for each. My reviews are posted at Goodreads. Yes, it seems weird, but right now, it works for me. ;)

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Agatha Christie Reading Challenge

She's reading in chronological order and working from the list provided at Christie's Wikipedia entry.

*****

Along with Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes, I cut my mystery television teeth with David Suchet's portrayal of Hercule Poirot (I must admit that Inspector Japp was always my favourite character!). So while I know a lot of the Poirot stories (since I've continued watching the series in re-runs), I've never actually read any of the books!

I just downloaded The Mysterious Affair at Styles onto my borrowed Sony, so this challenge should start off nicely. Thank heavens it's a perpetual challenge - she was a very prolific author!

Titles will be stroked out as they are read.
1. The Mysterious Affair at Styles (1920) (9 June 2011)
2. The Secret Advisary (1922)
3. The Murder on the Links (1923) (26 November 2011/Review)
4. The Man in the Brown Suit (1924)
5. Poirot Investigates (1924) *short story collection* (up next - I recently borrowed it from the library but probably won't start it until the new year...)
6. The Secret of Chimneys (1925)
7. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926)
8. The Big Four (1927)
9. The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928)
10. The Seven Dials Mystery (1929)
11. Partners in Crime (1929) *short story collection*
12. The Murder at the Vicarage (1930)
13. The Mysterious Mr. Quin (1930) *short story collection*
14. The Sittaford Mystery (1931)
15. Peril at End House (1932)
16. The Thirteen Problems (1932) *short story collection*
17. Lord Edgware Dies (1933)
18. The Hound of Death (1933) *short story collection*
19. Murder on the Orient Express (1934)
20. Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934)
21. The Listerdale Mystery (1934) *short story collection*
22. Parker Pyne Investigates (1934) *short story collection*
23. Three Act Tragedy (1935)
24. Death in the Clouds (1935)
25. The A.B.C. Murders (1936)
26. Murder in Mesopotamia (1936)
27. Cards on the Table (1936)
28. Dumb Witness (1937)
29. Death on the Nile (1937)
30. Murder in the Mews (1937) *novella collection*
31. Appointment With Death (1938)
32. Hercule Poirot's Christmas (1938)
33. The Regatta Mystery and Other Stories (1939) *short story collection*
34. Murder is Easy (1939)
35. And Then There Were None (1939)
36. Sad Cypress (1940)
37. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (1940)
38. Evil Under the Sun (1941)
39. N or M? (1941)
40. The Body in the Library (1942)
41. Five Little Pigs (1942)
42. The Moving Finger (1942)
43. Towards Zero (1944)
44. Death Comes as the End (1944)
45. Sparkling Cyanide (1945)
46. The Hollow (1946)
47. The Labours of Hercules (1947) *short story collection*
48. Taken at the Flood (1948)
49. The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories (1948) *short story collection*
50. Crooked House (1949)
51. A Murder is Announced (1950)
52. Three Blind Mice and Other Stories (1950) *short story collection*
53. They Came to Baghdad (1951)
54. The Under Dog and Other Stories (1951) *short story collection*
55. Mrs. McGinty's Dead (1952)
56. They Do It With Mirrors (1952)
57. After the Funeral (1953)
58. A Pocket Full of Rye (1953)
59. Destination Unknown (1954)
60. Hickory Dickory Dock (1955)
61. Dead Man's Folly (1956)
62. 4.50 From Paddington (1957)
63. Ordeal By Innocence (1958)
64. Cat Among the Pigeons (1959)
65. The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding (1960) *short story collection*
66. The Pale Horse (1961)
67. Double Sin and Other Stories (1961) *short story collection*
68. The Mirror Crack'd From Side to Side (1962)
69. The Clocks (1963)
70. A Caribbean Mystery (1964)
71. At Bertram's Hotel (1965)
72. Third Girl (1966)
73. Endless Night (1967)
74. By the Pricking of My Thumbs (1968)
75. Hallowe'en Party (1969)
76. Passenger to Frankfurt (1970)
77. Nemesis (1971)
78. The Golden Ball and Other Stories (1971) *short story collection*
79. Elephants Can Remember (1972)
80. Postern of Fate (1973)
81. Poirot's Early Cases (1974) *short story collection*
82. Curtain (1975)
83. Sleeping Murder (1976)
84. Miss Marple's Final Cases and Two Other Stories (1979) *short story collection*
85. Problem at Pollensa Bay and Other Stories (1991) *short story collection*
86. The Harlequin Tea Set (1997) *short story collection*
87. While the Light Lasts and Other Stories (1997) *short story collection*
88. Agatha Christie's Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries by John Curran (2009) - contains 2 newly discovered short stories (The Incident of the Dog's Ball and The Capture of Cerberus)

Additionally, for each book I review (since I am terrible at not writing reviews), I'll put aside .50 cents. (I'm poor ;) The final amount will be totalled up at the end of the year.

For every annual challenge I've entered and do not complete, $5.00 will be subtracted from the pot.

All of the money raised will be donated to a local charity (Denise House, Ontario SPCA, United Way, etc.).

Considering I've read 450 books (that includes everything from adult to children' picture books), and I completed (or hope to complete, by the time the year is over) 19 challenges in 2011, this should yield a nice chunk of change.